Career Advice About Meta

I'm in bootcamp right now, and many teams are telling me that they have all 3 of these things. My bootcamp mentor says that's not really feasible - There are trade-offs. Am I gullible if I believe these teams at face value?

I joined this June. Our team has two chunks, one is doing project M and the other doing project H. For the first three month, project M was my ramp up project and manager said I did well. In the mid of October, my mentor told manager that I have code quality problem, writing too fast with bugs in diff. Manager talked to me once and pointed out, which I appreciate. Then the last quarter began, I was assigned both project M and project H work, project H is very coding heavy because of the design pattern and for project M, the tl didn't give any input, I would have to basically guess in the doc, according to the previous pattern, we can present the doc, let people comment, at the same time, start to work(it's building a dashboard), but my manager insist that I need to get a signoff from the project M tl, which I previously actively ask for input, no response, after the dashboard was drafted, the tl was not satisfied and told manager, manager told me he will let other people take over this. That's part one.

Part two, the tl from project H provided detailed guideline and I raised diff in time, but the person was really busy, I can't get my diff reviewed, for a whole week, I only got one review, even though the work has a target date, but that seems not to be meaningful with the sluggish review process, I also asked other team members involved in project H to take a look at my diff, only one person responded after three days. The feedback from this tl is that he can't approve my diff fast. Then the manager think it's still my code quality issue, which I paid extra attention after last feedback, so I was really confused with what he said. The diff review process is always an issue, it was brought again and again during team meeting, but nothing was done to really solve it

The PSC is looming, good part is that I don't need to participate it since I'm TNTE. But I still sense the atmosphere has changed from manager. I thinks the work assigning has some issue as I have never worked on project H before and because of this heavy coding task, I needed extra time for it, hence having no time for project M's dashboard.

Should I be worried at this team? I am not eligible to transfer now, what should I expect next year?

For my current project, I have 2 broad options for the infra/platform to support the feature:

1. Using a proven technology that has existing use cases within Meta but a somewhat limited API
2. Using a new technology that's not completely done yet and has uncertainty, but should have better APIs and performance

There's also the option of trying to do both, benchmarking them against one another, and then choosing the better one. However, I don't think we'll have the time to do that.

All this being said, any thoughts on which technology to go with?

I'm pushing for the E4 promotion in the next PSC cycle, and I've gotten some feedback that I could shore up my people axis contribution. Given that, I was wondering how important people is for this promo and how I can get points on this axis as a growing E3. People axis contribution seems harder given the hiring freezes (e.g. it's harder to be a bootcamp mentor) and the fact that the main intern season is over.

I joined Meta as an E5, and now I'm looking to get to E6. I want to stay on the IC track, so my goal is concretely to get to E6 and stay there, not become an M1. I know that leadership is crucial for EMs, but is it the same for staff engineers at Meta? I'm currently leading <5 engineers who are probably E3/E4, and I'm wondering if I need to expand my leadership scope there.

1. Team Charter: Overview of our mission and values?
2. Milestones: Key goals for 2 weeks, 2 months, 6 months - clear success indicators?
3. Key Contacts: Priority teams and individuals for relationship-building; schedule meetings? Essential tech leads and engineers contacts for insights across the org?
4. Priorities: Weekly/quarterly priorities and alignment with company goals?
5. Challenges: Major team challenges and my role in addressing them?
6. Time Allocation: Expected distribution of my time across tasks?
7. Learning Resources: Key documents or experiments to review?
8. Project Ideas: Prospective projects and their scope (T-shirt sizing)?
9. Performance Criteria: Access to the performance and progression rubric?
10. Meeting Cadence: Preferred frequency for one-on-one meetings with manager, skip and peers?
11. Feedback Schedule: Ideal timing for feedback sessions for peers, manager, and skip?
12. Communication Preference: Written or verbal communication preference? Anything else?
13. Asking for Help: Procedure and contact for assistance; onboarding buddy?
14. Proactivity & Dynamics: Steps to proactivity and understanding organizational dynamics?
15. Current Focus: Main current team issue or project?
16. Recent & Future Work: Recent achievements and future plans (month, quarter, year)?
17. Innovation Opportunities: Any tool/process gaps I can fill with a new solution?
18. Team Charter Feedback: My understanding of our mission and KPIs; do you agree?
19. People to Meet: List of essential PM's and people to influence across org teams.
20. Project Ideas: Observations and potential impact with rough T-shirt sizing.

Anything else, also please reply if you were my manager if you can Alex + Rahul?

The Hack language is indeed associated with PHP but it's not exactly a new version of PHP. Instead, Hack is a programming language developed by Meta (formerly Facebook) that operates within the same ecosystem as PHP and is designed to interoperate with PHP code. Hack extends PHP by adding additional features such as static typing, type inference, generics, nullable types, and async programming, among others.

Hack aims to maintain the fast development cycle of PHP while offering the added reliability of static typing, enhancing both performance and safety. It was developed to address some of the shortcomings and challenges of working with large PHP codebases, especially in a fast-paced development environment. Hack and PHP codes can coexist, allowing developers to gradually migrate PHP codebases to Hack, providing a smooth transition pathway without requiring a full rewrite. Meta originally developed Hack to run on the HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM), which is used to execute both Hack and PHP code, significantly improving execution times compared to the standard PHP interpreter.

Currently, I'm on a 10 person team, but we only have 3 senior engineers and the remaining 7 are E4s (5 people) and E3s (me and one other new grad). For our upcoming half, they want E4s leading some of the projects for their development. However, I would like guidance, mentorship, and feedback from an E5 or above ideally since they are more experienced. Also, from one of the Taro videos on feedback, one of the points made was to find a way to get feedback from senior engineers at the end of the half who will bolster your PSC packet versus a mid-level engineer who might not hold as much weight (Correct me if I'm wrong)?

Anyway to navigate this the right way? Should I avoid certain projects that are led by E4s? Does this even matter?

I've been at Meta for a while and have thought about outside opportunities. I feel like it can be frustrating getting things done at Meta a lot of the time - Too many processes and people to align to ship projects. I want to work somewhere where I can just write code and ship cool products. Any thoughts on next steps for someone who's been at Big Tech for a while?

I recently received an offer to join an Ads team at Meta at E4 level. The comp was pretty much equal.

Here are some pros of my current team:

• Work life balance is great
• I've learned a lot and am still learning a decent amount
• Manager is nice

Here are the two big problems I have with my team:

• I see no path to L6. My org is very L6 heavy, and even more L5 heavy (i.e. no L4's to mentor). There are strong L5 engineers that should have been promoted long ago but are still here. They are always given the promotion level projects (despite still never being promoted).
• The projects I'm working on feel extremely useless, and there is minimal real impact that product or engineers have on the business. (Few massive enterprise customers with deal terms driving business growth over product)
  • A lot of features we build are used by tens (yes tens) of users.
  • Some of our systems are interesting and high scale (we serve content), but are heavily guarded by a group of OG engineers that don't like to involve others.

The Ads team at Meta seems bland but impactful, they have concrete incremental revenue goals and are serving a large amount of ads customers. Don't know much else. The manager seems nice and mentioned that "oncall wasn't bad".

Here's a few additional twists to my situation:

• I actually declined the Meta offer already in fear of losing my WLB, but every time I push a commit for a feature I know that at most 10-20 people will care about, I start to wonder if I should try to claw my way back towards another offer (I declined a few days ago)
• I'm possibly going to need to leave the Bay Area in August 2025 (so my tenure if I switch may be ~1.5 years, probably not long enough for promotion)

I'm trying to think of what would put me in the best situation in 1.5 years when I move and begin another job search. Hopefully I'll land in a more senior role by then.

I'm a mid-level engineer who's struggling with some performance issues at work. A staff engineer on my team has taken notice and has been very generous with offering help and advice, to the extent of basically handholding me through my projects. While I truly appreciate the help, I'm wondering if this will be seen as a negative signal during performance evaluation since I'm supposed to be operating 'independently' at this level.

Hi,

I had got an E4 offer from Meta sometime back. Although I've been really excited to join, I'd need to decline the offer - specifically because I'm not able to move to London at this point (due to some personal reasons).

As I'd need to decline the offer, I want to keep the channel/opportunity open for me to be able to join Meta sometime in the future.

Is there anything specific that I can do to gracefully decline while keeping my chances open to join in the future?

I got offers from Meta, several top hedge funds (Citadel, Millennium, etc.), Series E unicorn and a series C robotics startup and I want opinions on who to move forward with.

From a SWE’s perspective, Meta wins, but 10 years down the line, I don’t see myself as a SWE. I see myself doing (1) a startup, (2) going into VC or working in (3) product management or a more business-focused role. For the first 3-4 years of my career I want to get engineering training, position myself to do interesting and impactful work, networking with a talented team and building the skills that’ll set me up for the 3 career paths that I’ve discussed. I’ve listed companies in order of preference :

1. Series E Unicorn
   1. Company is customer-focused (engineers always talk to customers) and engineers wear many hats. These are skills for building startups.
   2. Getting startup experience is great for going into VC.
   3. I’m working on one of their core products, so there’s a lot of chances for growth. High performers become PMs in 2-3 years
   4. 30-40% ex-FAANG and lots of MIT, Berkeley and Stanford alum
2. Meta
   1. Meta trains you to become a great SWE, and you need to be a great builder for startups
   2. Meta doesn’t seem to prep me for the VC world, but the brand name alone will help get your feet in the door
   3. I have the optionality to climb the corporate ladder to do product management
3. Hedge funds
   1. Hedge funds don’t really train you to be a great SWE or a great VC, but the brand definitely helps
   2. I work really close to PnL for a division that is undergoing hypergrowth, so lots of interesting things to be done
   3. Can also break into management relatively quickly
4. Series C robotics startup
   1. I’m a SWE and the place that makes the money are the robotics engineers, so not really positioned to make a huge change

Unicorn > Meta/HF > robotics startup

I want to join the unicorn since it aligns well with what I want to do in the future, but the brand of Meta is really hard to pass on (only brands I have is MS from T5 CS and BS from T10 CS). On one hand I have a long career down the line, and this is one of many decisions I'll make, and if the unicorn doesn't work out, then it's not a big deal. On the other hand, I feel like if I don't choose prestige and the unicorn fails, I'd have a much harder time in life. It's like messing up an RPG build.

I’m curious what people’s thoughts are and what things I’m not considering?

Hello folks,
I have an upcoming Staff ML Eng. interview with Meta. Could someone please suggest some good resources for behavioral preparation? I have finished the join taro course.

Hello everyone! I am really excited to be joining Meta soon as a partner engineer. I would love some advice on how to get the ground running, making sure I'd make a good impression and start contributing quickly and effectively.

I have checked out the amazing questions the community have asked on Taro, and have started looking into the , and also the .

I am wondering if there are any Meta specific tips or tips on other things I might have missed coming from a non-big tech background? Thanks in advance!

What is a typical ramp up time for IC5 engineer? I joined a few months back and I was told that I am still not onboarded completely enough to land projects independently. Will this get me a Below Expectations (BE) rating for the mid-year perf cycle or is there still time to salvage the situation?

Been on my current team for a half now and working with a teammate on an XFN heavy project. Both of us are E5. While we have split the work into different areas and are owning each area, my teammate is more tenured and has more context on certain common parts of the system, and therefore ends up participating more in the conversations in meetings. As a result, many XFN partners are now seeing my teammate as the lead for this project and independently reaching out rather than communicating with both of us. Skip is also pinging my teammate separately and in XFN groups. How can I take charge and establish myself as an equal owner of the project? Have tried to ramp up as much as possible on the common components and haven’t brought it up to my manager yet, but want to make sure I don’t get dinged in performance review for not driving enough direction. Many times, I’ll message my teammate to discuss an aspect of the project and my teammate will ping my idea immediately to XFN. I’ve brought up establishing clear areas of ownership with my teammate which we seemed to be on the same page about, but things haven’t improved. I have also written most of the docs for the project so hoping to leverage those for direction but want to make sure I don’t get dinged for this dynamic.

I'm new to Meta, so I'm currently in team selection. My goal is to choose a team that maintains more critical pieces and are more stable with respect to layoffs/reorganizations vs. (slightly) more moonshotty teams with higher risk/reward. An example of the latter would be a team working on maintaining an ads pipeline while one for the former would be a team experimenting with new UI features.

How can I find a team that meets that bill, and what questions can I ask to help identify this?

Hi everyone, I recently accepted an offer for a Summer 2025 Software Engineering Intern position at Meta. I have about ~5 months before I start and want to make sure that I’m as prepared as possible by then.

Specifically, I’d like to improve my technical abilities as much as possible in ways that align with Meta’s ecosystem and expectations, so I have the best chance of succeeding and obtaining a return offer.

With this in mind, I was hoping to get advice for the most optimal learning paths to do so. Specifically, I was curious if there are:

1. Any Languages, Frameworks, Libraries, etc. that are heavily used in Meta that I am likely to encounter as an intern
2. If there are any Meta-specific or open-source technologies that are commonly used
3. What type of personal projects would help prepare me for my role at Meta

Thanks!

Hi all, I'm currently working on GenAI server infra at Meta as an IC5. I'm interested in the space and have had a long standing interest to dig deeper into ML. At a high level, I'm considering the following:

1. Positioned well for E6 scope and exploring interest in people management (M1)
2. Taking an online masters program to brush up on math, ML foundation skills. This can better validate my interests. Alternatively, I can lean into online resources like Cousera, deeplearning.ai
3. Recruit internally as an E5 to a relevant team. Generally internal mobility empowers people to explore and learn new things. However, it helps to have relevant experience.

For online masters programs, I've heard of great things from Georgia Tech, with a ~$7k online program. Alternative options include UT and Stanford, and the latter is ~$60k. Rahul made a great video about his , but this would rather be a part time commitment, and I already have many YOE at Meta for my resume.

I'd also love to hear your general thoughts on navigating career moves into an area with existing, highly talented pool.

I just watched . Great material! In a couple of session, it was mentioned that Infra teams works differently, e.g. there is not as much XFN. Can you shed some light on how Infra team promo works?

Hello! I'm joining Meta as a SWE intern in the Summer of this year and would like to maximize my chances at getting the highest rating possible, alongside setting myself up for a high growth rate if I'm able to join as a New Grad. Sorry if this is really long, I wanted to bundle my questions to not have to give context multiple times.

For full context, I'm in my last year of University with 4 previous internships of experience (1 at a large bank and 3 at small-mid size companies) and I'm currently doing an internship until April at a SaaS tech company (think like public ~40B market cap, 8.5k employees) with a sizeable amount of ex-FAANG employees so it's much more relevant than my previous internships have been. The Meta internship is in the summer for 16 weeks and would be my 6th final internship - my University is big on internships and requires you to do 6 of them which is why I have more than usual.

Onto my main question, I want to try to go all in and get a GE+ rating at the Meta internship and do my best to grow as much as possible there (at both engineering skills and climbing the ladder). I've watched the series on securing intern return offers but I'd like some advice on what I can do to go beyond that.

I think I'm in a unique position where I get to do another tech internship right before, and would like some advice on what I can do here to practice some of the things Meta would also look for to achieve GE+. For context, I just finished my first month (1.5 weeks mandatory onboarding, 2.5 weeks actually working) and merged ~20 PRs, my manager and team says I'm doing really well here but I have no idea what Meta's standards are for code velocity and quality so doing well at Meta might look totally different. However, to be completely honest, I've also been pretty lazy at the current internship since I don't care much for a higher rating (+ tasks have been kinda boring lol) and only working ~20 hours/week so I could be doing much more, which I realized I need to change if I want to get into good habits before joining Meta.

Additionally, team matching starts soon for Meta and I was looking into what to select. By far my highest interest is within Reality Labs related work but I don't have much experience with VR. Would RL make a bad choice for my goals? At my current internship I'm mostly working on Dist Sys and ML Infra for abuse detection/prevention.

Thanks in advance and apologies for the really long questions.

I recently joined Meta as a junior engineer and my hope is to be able to try out several domains (guessing realistically 2) to see where my interest lies. I’m not on an AI team currently, but given the rise of AI, I hope to be able to explore that area.

However, I understand that switching teams will disrupt my productivity and growth as a junior engineer. I’m wondering:

• When should I approach changing teams/domain? More specifically, is it better to change teams after being promoted to mid-level?
• How should I approach changing teams?

For example, knowing that we got EE- in people axis meaning that it's on lower end of EE.